Students’ views about the purpose of higher education: a comparative analysis of six European countries

Abstract

Across Europe, assumptions are often made within the academic literature and by some social commentators that students have come to understand the purpose of higher education (HE) in increasingly instrumental terms. This is often linked to processes of marketisation and neo-liberalisation across the Global North, in which the value of HE has come to be associated with economic reward and labour market participation and measured through a relatively narrow range of metrics. It is also associated with the establishment, in 2010, of the European Higher Education Area, which is argued to have brought about the refiguration of European universities around an Anglo-American model. Scholars have contended that students have become consumer-like in their behaviour and preoccupied by labour market outcomes rather than processes of learning and knowledge generation. Often, however, such claims are made on the basis of limited empirical evidence, or a focus on policies and structures rather than the perspectives of students themselves. In contrast, this paper draws on a series of 54 focus groups with 295 students conducted in six European countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain). It shows how understandings of the purpose of HE are more nuanced than much of the extant literature suggests and vary, at least to some extent, by both nationstate and higher education institution. Alongside viewing the purpose of HE as preparing them for the labour market, students emphasised the importance of tertiary-level study for personal growth and enrichment, and societal development and progress. These findings have implications for policy and practice. In particular, the broader purposes of HE, as articulated by the students in this study, should be given greater recognition by policymakers, those teaching in HE, and the wider public instead of, as is often the case, positioning students as consumers, interested in only economic gain.

‘Where does my £9000 go?’ Student identities in a marketised British Higher Education Sector

“…28.71% ( n = 29) of questionnaire respondents ‘agreed strongly’ and 35.64% ( n = 36) ‘agreed somewhat’ that they ‘chose/choose modules based on whether they will help [their] future career’. These findings are concurrent with Brooks et al ( 2021 ) whose research with students found that the most common purpose of HE was to prepare themselves for the labour market. This supports the view of student consumerism which positions the student-consumer as focused on gaining access to a financially rewarding career (Bossick 2009 ).…”

“…Whether students identify as, behave like, or navigate through HE as a ‘consumer’ remains a ‘contested yet under-analysed entity’ (Nixon et al 2016 , p. 1). As Brooks et al ( 2021 ) assert, claims that students have become consumer-like in their behaviour are often made based on limited empirical evidence, rather than exploring the perspective of students themselves. This research therefore helps to address this gap in the literature and contributes to a growing body of empirical work to emerge over the last 5 years which engages with the changing identities of students in a marketised British higher education sector (Tomlinson 2017 ; Budd 2016 ; Bunce et al 2016 ).…”

What drives labour market success? Empirical analysis of university graduates in Poland

“…Those results are, to some extent, consistent with research conducted by Svabova and Kramarova (2021). However, another recent study of European students indicates the importance of tertiary education for personal and societal growth and development rather than economic gains (Brooks et al. , 2021).…”

Destruktivni Uticaj Posthumanističke Semiotičke Ideologije Na Akademiju Kao Arhetipni Entitet

“…Iako bi se, na prvi pogled, moglo pretpostaviti da je pomjeranje granica poznatog neophodan element za usavršavanje, te da, hipotetičkom povratnom spregom, ono pozitivno utiče na privredu, ovakvo posmatranje je u velikoj mjeri zabluda, budući da je pomenuta povratna sprega zasnovana upravo na ideologiji koja definiše način evaluacije uspjeha institucija kroz njihovo ekonomsko djelovanje. Drugim riječima, vrijednost institucije se, društveno gledano, određuje na osnovu njenog ekonomskog učinka, iskazanog kroz njen finansijski potencijal, pa na osnovu ovoga postaje jasnije i da se, posmatrano unutar ove ideološke kutije, saznanje kao cilj vrednuje daleko manje u odnosu na jednostavnu obuku radnika za struku (Brooks, Gupta, Jayadeva, & Abrahams, 2020), te da ovakav vid implementacije akademije, bez obzira na finansijsku jačinu sprege sa privredom, koja je tipično relativno slaba (National Science Board, 2018) (OECD (2021), 2021) (Atkinson & Foote, 2019), na nju ne djeluje nužno pozitivno (Bloch & Sørensen, 2015) (Jacob & Lefgren, 2011) (Larson, Ghaffarzadegan, & Diaz, 2012) (Bauwens Luc, 2011 (Gök, Rigby, & Shapira, 2016) (Archer, 2020). Naravno, stvarni problem je ovdje sakriven, jer je implicitna sugestija da se svojevrsnom "Ptolomizacijom" (Žižek, 2019) može doći do ispravnog rješenja, dok stvarno rješenje podrazumijeva promjenu osnovne perspektive na problem.…”